The inaugural Union Peace Conference wrapped up in Nay Pyi Taw on January 16 with all the usual fanfare. President U Thein Sein launched the peace process in August 2011 and has never resiled from making it a central plank of his administration: Even the modest achievements of the ceasefire negotiations have been feted and trumpeted with vigour by the government and the state-run media. Analyst Bertil Lintner derisively dubbed the process as the “peace-industrial complex”.
A case in point was the official revelry that accompanied the signing last March of a draft text for a national ceasefire agreement. Ethnic armed groups withheld their final assent until after convening two summits, first in the Wa stronghold of Panghsang and then at the Karen National Union headquarters at Law Khee Lar. (Courtesy of Frontier Myanmar)
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